On Wednesday, the White House hosted a Summit on Worker Voice,
an all-day event focused on promoting organized labor. The Summit
featured panel discussions involving workers, union officials and
organizers, and "model" employers. Both President Obama
and Vice President Biden spoke at the event. President Obama said
one of the goals of the Summit was to explore how to encourage a
growing movement around the country to "empower
workers."
Labor Secretary Perez set the tone when he said that the United
States should be doing more to address the income gap and increase
worker protections. President Obama made clear in his remarks that
he favored an increased union presence in the workplace and that
organized labor was key to a healthy economy. "The middle
class was built on a union label . . . I believe that when people
attack unions they're attacking the middle class." He went
on to say that given the current economic climate, efforts should
be taken to make it easier
